


Misdirection

by thekumquat



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-02
Updated: 2016-08-14
Packaged: 2018-07-28 19:05:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7653205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thekumquat/pseuds/thekumquat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Casey and Raph speak the same language -- one of violence, words written on the walls of the city in blood, music drummed from the skulls of your enemies. It is a primal language, brutal and simple.</p><p>It's the language of the streets, the song of the fetid heart of the city, and absolutely useless when it comes to getting across the concept of "I really like you...like, I LIKE like you". There's a little too much room for interpretation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“ _…despite her jaws being strong enough to crush bones, she carries her young in her mouth without leaving a scratch. The savannah lioness-“_

Donnatello’s view of the television screen was suddenly blocked by a paint-stained sweatshirt. Great. Good. Fabulous. Just what he wanted – to have his nice lunch-and-science time interrupted by _this._

“Hi Casey,” he sighed. All he could do was hope that this would be over quickly.

“Hey Donnie.”  

Casey rested his hand on the couch beside Donnie’s head, leaning over him. He smirked. But it wasn’t his usual I’m-so-awesome smirk or even his i-just-did-something-hilarious-and-it’s-about-to-totally-ruin-your-day smirk. There was something different about it. Something…strange.

“Can I help you?”

“You can tell me what you did different today that makes you look so good.”

Donnie recoiled slowly. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Raph’s head snap around. Leo and Mikey let the pinball machine fall silent as they stared.

“What?”

“Seriously man, you look good! So what is it? New shell wax? New bandanna?”

“I…No? What is this about?”

“Nothin. I just thought maybe you’d like a little positive attention.”

 “Oh…kay, uh, thanks Casey, I…appreciate the compliment?”

“No problem, Dee.”

Casey _winked._

Oh god. Oh no. Oh god no.

Casey was _hitting on him._

Donnie fought the urge to hide inside his shell.

“Okay well uh if that’s all I think I have some work to do in my lab--” He started to stand but Casey moved to block his path.

“Hey, hey, what’s the rush? The science isn’t going anywhere. Time is fleeting, Dee. You gotta…” and again Casey leaned in, again he smirked that awful smirk, this time with the addition of doing something truly horrifying with his eyebrows. “…enjoy the moment.”

Raph collided with Casey. Donnie had never been so glad of his brother’s temper in his entire life.

“What are you doing?” Raph demanded. Casey spread his arms, his expression all offended innocence.

“I’m not doing anything! _You’re_ the one interrupting!”

“Oh you think I’m just going to stand there while you mess with Donnie’s head?”

“Dude! I was paying him a complement, what’s wrong with that?”

Donnie looked through the gap between Raph and Casey to make eye contact with his brothers. Leo and Mikey shrugged helplessly, equally confused.

“Back off, Casey!”

“I’m trying to have a nice conversation here--“

“Oh yeah? And since when have you and Donnie been so buddy-buddy, huh?”

“Maybe I’m trying to expand my _relationship_ with him.” The way Casey dragged out the word was clearly meaningful, but Donnie had no idea what that meaning could be. Raph clenched his fists and tightened his jaw.

“And what’s _that_ supposed to mean?”

“It means exactly what it sounds like, _Raphael_.”

Raph shoved Casey hard in the chest. Casey shoved right back.

“You need to stay away from my brother!”

“You need to step off my business!”

“Your _business_? Let me tell you what you can do with your _business,_ pal!”

Raph’s punch caught Casey square in the mouth. Donnie snatched up his sandwich and scrambled over the back of the couch as Casey took Raph down with a flying tackle.

It became clear very quickly that this was not the usual friendly scuffle. This was a _fight_. Even for Casey and Raph, whose play-fights were already excessively violent, this one was bad. Someone threw a punch and blood went spattering across the floor. Casey elbowed Raph in the mouth. Raph twisted Casey’s arm. Casey scratched his fingers across Raph’s face and jammed a thumb in his eye. Raph pinned Casey to the ground with a knee on his chest.

“ENOUGH!”

Everyone froze, even Raph with his fist raised like the wrath of god. Mikey and Leo rushed forward and dragged Raph off of Casey. He went with no resistance, chest heaving, jaw still set. Casey lurched to his feet and wiped blood off his mouth.

“What is going on in here?” Splinter demanded.

“Uhhh,” Mikey said. “Well…okay, the thing is…um, they were sort of….uh…”

The words _Casey was hitting on Donnie and Raph was defending his honor_ , floated above them like a panel from Mikey’s comic books. It stayed there, silent and unspoken because nobody wanted to actually admit this was happening.

“It’s nothing,” Casey said, darkly. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Yeah.” Raph shook himself free of his brothers and glared at Casey. “Doesn’t matter.”

“I’m out of here,” Casey said, scooping up his backpack.

“You better be,” Raph said.

“I guess I better call off patrolling this week,” Casey called back as he walked away.

“I guess so!” Raph shouted.

“Fine!”

“ _FINE!_ Who needs you, you big ape!”

“Bite me, turtle boy!”

Casey hopped over the turnstile and was gone. All eyes slowly turned to Raph.

“ _What_?”

“What was that?” Leo asked.

“It’s called a _fight,_ Leo. It’s a thing that happens when people don’t like each other.” Raph stalked back towards his room.

“But you and Casey are like bestest buds forever!” Mikey said. Raph slammed the door shut loud enough to make them all wince. 

“Dude. What just happened?”  

  


	2. Chapter 2

Raph had been in bad moods before. As Mikey would say, Raph was a walking bad mood that occasionally had good moods.

This was different. Thinking about Casey didn’t just make him mad. It also gave him this weird, hot, sick feeling at the pit of his stomach, like the time he drank an entire bottle of hot sauce on a dare.

He was angry that he didn’t know what he was feeling, he was angry that he was feeling it, and he was angry that his best friend was the one causing it. He  _ hated  _ having feelings. 

The solution was obviously to stop thinking about Casey, but he couldn’t. No matter where he was or what he was doing: watching TV, reading his magazines, playing his drums or in bed trying to sleep. It always ended with him zoned out, glaring furiously at nothing while the scene played out in his head on repeat. Casey leaning over Donnie, smirking,  _ flirting _ , looking at Donnie like…like…like  _ that _ . The way he looked at April. The way he  _ didn’t  _ look at- 

“Raph!” 

He jerked back to the present. “What?” 

His family was staring at him, dinner momentarily abandoned. 

“You uh…kinda wrecked your fork, dude,” Mikey said awkwardly. Raph looked down. His fork was bent almost completely in half. 

“Perhaps you should take a walk. The fresh air may clear your mind.” Splinter suggested, in that tone that made it clear it was not a suggestion. Raph dropped the wrecked fork on the table with a clatter, and left without a word. He didn’t have to look back to know exactly what looks they were trading behind his back. 

  
  


The cool night air did help. Raph took a deep breath in, taking in all the smells and sounds of his city at night. He realized he hadn’t come up top in almost a week.  No wonder he was so mad. All he really needed was some fresh air. Yeah. 

He took off. 

Raph ran as fast as he could, throwing in as many flips and tricks as he could. He bounced off a water tower and somersaulted across a roof, slid over an air vent and backflipped from one roof to another. 

He was moving too fast to think about anything but the next step. The weight of his anger and frustration and that horrible  _ other _ feeling dissipated in the sheer thrill of movement. He felt  _ good _ . He finally felt right again. 

Like some horrible apparition, Casey Jones appeared. Raph let out a yell of surprise and came to a screeching halt just seconds before colliding with the other boy. 

“What the hell, Casey?” All those bad feelings were back with a vengeance, amplified by the sight of that familiar, stupid, gap-toothed face. “What are you doing here?” 

“Dude, this is our meet up spot! Why wouldn’t I be here?” 

Raph groaned. Of course. Out of sheer habit his feet had led him to roof he always met Casey at before they headed out for their nightly patrol. 

“I’ve been up here every night for the past five days waiting for you to show!” 

That threw Raph a little. 

“You seriously thought I’d come back after what you did?” 

“You  _ did _ come back!” 

“Well.. yeah…but-but not on purpose! I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going. And now I’m leaving.” 

Casey threw a hand out. “Wait!” He squirmed uncomfortably. “Look, I… I’m sorry. I didn’t think you’d get mad like that.” 

“Oh was there some other way I was supposed to get mad about you hitting on my brother?” 

“Well I didn’t think you’d freak out!” 

“You know what? You’re right, Casey! I’m not mad! I’m so happy for you and Donnie! I hope you two get married and have all the little freaky turtle human hybrids Donnie’s science can make! Donatello Jones has such a great ring to it!” 

Casey shoved him. 

“I didn’t hit on your brother because I want to marry him! I’m not even into him like that, he’s such a nerd!” 

“Then why the hell did you do it?” 

Casey threw his hands up.

“Because hitting on April didn’t work!” He yelled. Raph blinked. Blinked again. Opened his mouth. Shut his mouth. The only thing that managed to come out was “wuh?” 

Casey took a deep breath. 

“Look. When we first met, I kept trying to…” He waved his hands vaguely. “ _ You know _ .” 

Raph shook his head and Casey scowled at him. 

“I kept hitting on you and you didn’t notice! So I figured if I hit on April you’d, I don’t know, get jealous or something. But you just didn’t get it! So I thought maybe  _ you  _ thought I wasn’t into guys, but we don’t have any guy friends we both know so I figured…” Casey rubbed the back of his neck, a dull pink blush creeping up his cheeks. 

“”Hitting on me.” 

“Yeah.”

“Hitting. On  _ me _ .” 

“Yeah.” 

“You. You were hitting on me.”

“Dude, how many times do I have to say yes, here? I LIKE you, man. Just…” Casey let out a frustrated huff. “You know that feeling you get right after you beat up a bunch of bad guys? When I’m around you, I feel like that…but all that time.”

Jealous. That was the hot sick feeling Raph had been feeling. He’d been jealous. Jealous because he wanted Casey to look at him like that. Jealous because the thrill of kicking ass was never as strong as when he was doing it with Casey by his side. 

“Oh,” Raph said, intelligently. “Uh. Me too?”    
Casey lit up, then looked suspicious. 

“Wait, for real?”

“Yes for real! What, do you think I’m lying?” 

“No, you just sounded like you weren’t sure.” 

“I’m sure, dumbass.” 

Casey grinned again.  

“ _ Awesome.”  _

He took a step forward, right into Raph’s personal space. He was looking at Raph  _ like that.  _ The way he’d been looking at April and Donnie, but now he was pointing it right at Raph and it was real. Raph’s mouth went dry and he swallowed. He was suddenly way too aware of his hands. What did he normally do with his hands when he was standing? Did he put them on his hips? That didn’t seem right. Did he-

Casey leaned in and kissed him -- it was barely a kiss at all, just a gentle press of lips. Raph jerked away and grimaced. 

“Sorry, I- I thought-”

“No, I did- I mean I do! It’s just…” Raph rubbed the back of his neck. How could he explain? What could he say? That he was better equipped to take a punch than a kiss? That sometimes gentle -- April’s hand brushing his arm, Mikey pulling him into a hug, Splinter’s hand resting on his head -- made him more uncomfortable than any blow ever had. Made him feel raw, exposed, vulnerable. Like someone had cracked open his shell and was taking a look inside. 

“Look, if you don’t want to, that’s  _ fine  _ man, I get it-”

Raph punched Casey’s arm, hard. 

“I  _ do  _ want to! I just...not like  _ that,  _ it just feels…” He trailed off again. Raph scrambled for the words. “I like it when you punch me,” he said. “But I don’t like it when you do  _ that _ .” 

Casey tilted his head to one side and gave Raph a thoughtful look. His eyes narrowed slightly, like he was working out a math problem in his head, minus the counting on his fingers. 

“Okay,” he said. “I got it.” 

Casey shoved Raph hard against the wall, nearly knocking the wind out of him. 

“Oof! What the hell, Casey?” 

Casey just grinned. He grabbed Raph’s shoulders, leaned in, and kissed him. Not gently. Not even a little. Casey kissed him so hard their teeth knocked together; he bit down on Raph’s lip so hard Raph was surprised he couldn’t taste blood. His nails dug into Raph’s skin and Raph’s shell scraped against the brick. 

Raph’s knees felt rubbery. He was pretty sure if Casey wasn’t holding on to him he’d fall down. This time the kiss ended because it was that or pass out from lack of oxygen. Raph decided maybe he’d try harder at that “internal breathing” thing Leo kept going on about. 

“Whoa,” he said at last. Casey grinned triumphantly. 

“Nailed it,” he said. 

“Shut up.” 

Raph grabbed him by the front of his sweatshirt and pulled him in. Kissing Casey was like landing that perfect hit on a purple dragon. Like knocking Leo on his ass in training. Like nailing three foot bots at once. Like-

He pulled away. 

“Why do you taste like mouthwash?” 

Casey blushed. Actually blushed. The pink started at his cheeks and travelled all the way up to his ears. It was amazing. 

“I wanted to be prepared! You know, just in case!” 

Raph stared at him, then snorted and started laughing. 

“You fucking  _ doofus. _ ” 

Casey punched his shoulder. Raph punched back. 

“Dude, we should go patrolling,” Casey said. “It’s been like a whole week since I punched a guy’s teeth out!” 

“Hell yeah!” 

They slammed their foreheads together. 

“Let’s  _ do  _ this!”


End file.
